Broadband for America: Helping Make Our Nation the Most Connected on Earth

By Joe Waz
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Sep 25, 2009

We're pleased to be one of nearly a hundred broadband companies, associations, and user organizations who are part of a newly launched coalition called Broadband for America.

Broadband for America was created to support and pursue the two most important broadband goals of the Administration, the Congress, and the Federal Communications Commission: getting broadband everywhere in America, and getting everyone connected to broadband.

As David Cohen has noted on this blog, there is a broadband connection available to 92 percent of American homes today, meaning 8 percent of homes do not have a broadband network going by the front door. But in all the places where broadband does go by the front door, we still find that 37 percent of American homes have not chosen to get connected.

If we believe that broadband is important to the future of this nation - to create jobs, power innovation, improve healthcare, strengthen our educational system, reduce energy consumption - then we need to make a concerted effort as a nation to close the "broadband adoption gap."

On Tuesday, September 29, the Federal Communications Commission will receive a status report on the National Broadband Plan. We'll be watching to see what progress the FCC's Task Force has made and what they still want to know. We and the members of Broadband for America will make sure they get the facts they need.

But Broadband for America is also here to share the facts with you. Learn how broadband network providers in the U.S. -- cable companies, phone companies, wireless and satellite companies -- are inventing and investing to bring you a faster, safer Internet. Read about the ways broadband can help us achieve critical economic and social goals, what stands in the way, and what public policy changes are needed. And join the dialogue -- give America your best ideas on how to make America the most connected nation on earth.